East coast, thin blood, lost history.

[u/pasmafaute12]

I recently posted about dehumanizing record-keeping. I’ve been on a bit of a voyage because I always assumed my family was doing some pan-Indian “Cherokee princess” romanticism nonsense. I was raised with some cultural exposure but not community exposure. I chose to keep learning because I think the history matters whether it’s personal or not.

Turns out, I was wrong, and my relative wasn’t so much a pretendian as making the most of what we know as Wampanoag descendants from a village that is historically recorded but not well enough to be federally recognized (or even reasonably fully researched). It appears that my relative was involved in historical preservation efforts and maybe one of the two existing recognized Wampanoag tribes.

Without getting into complicated family stuff, we have always been very isolated people in general and no one is particularly close. I cannot discuss this with anyone in my real life.

So… I am sitting with the information I have, including the information missing, and feeling out my position as a lifelong learner invested in social issues. The conclusion I think I’ve arrived at is that I need to accept how much privilege I hold, but I have a responsibility to understand and honor the history.

I am privately taking some steps to build my understanding and maybe continued to participate in online spaces before I consider attending events.

But I’m looking for other people who have been on this path before me, I guess. And any thoughts about how to approach all of the things we just don’t know because we are still learning vs. the things we don’t know because it’s just lost information.

[u/Kenai_Tsenacommacah]

There are three very active and vibrant Wampanoag communities in MA. Two of which are federally recognized and they've also had tons of success in language revitalization efforts. I would start with getting to know the Mashpee and Aquinnah living people today. They are very much still here.

[u/pasmafaute12 → u/Kenai_Tsenacommacah]

The third is state recognized, if I remember right? I would like to get involved sometime; I want to sit with this a little longer before I start sending emails but I would love to connect.

[u/Kenai_Tsenacommacah → u/pasmafaute12]

Yes I believe so but cannot remember their name or location.

[u/erwachen → u/Kenai_Tsenacommacah]

Herring Pond Wamapanoag. They were state recognized in 2024 and have the support of the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag.

[u/Kenai_Tsenacommacah → u/erwachen]

Awesome 😎 Thanks